The invention relates to a system and method for the delivery and updating of data transmitted to a mobile terminal. More particularly, the invention is a system and method in which a user may specify data desired from a supplier or content provider and have that data periodically updated when either the content provider or the user indicates so.
With the explosion in Internet access and usage individuals have discovered that they may now receive a large amount of information in their homes and offices almost immediately from any number of sources. These sources include everything from the latest news, weather, and sports to stocks, bond and commodity prices. Currently, a typical Internet user would have a browser installed in his local computer or server such as Internet Explorer(trademark) or Netscape(trademark). Using this browser, the user would access an Internet service provider, such as America-On-Line (AOL(trademark)), via a modem over the local public switched telephone network (PSTN). Once logged onto the Internet server, the user may utilize one of the many search engines, such as Yahoo(trademark) or Lycos(trademark), to specify search terms. The user may also use a web crawler, spider or robot to attempt to find a product, service or information desired. The search engine or web crawler would then respond with a list of web sites which matched the search terms the user provided. The user would then log onto a web site and view the products or services available for sale or receive the information desired. Further, if the user discovers a web site he prefers, the user may store the universal resource locator (URL) in a favorites"" directory for later quick access. Finally, due partly to the availability of the Internet, day trading has become very popular. Day traders will often sit in front a monitor and watch as trades in stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and options occur on the major markets. These day traders will often make numerous purchases and sales in a given day. However, the ability to monitor the trading on a major market such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is often difficult for the average user since it entails monitoring trading occurring in hundreds of stocks simultaneously. The volume of information that would have to be received would easily exceed the capability of 56K modem.
To overcome this problem, day traders and others often will turn to broadband cable Internet access such as provided by @HomeSM or join a service which has computers set up at a given location that may be used by their members. If a broadband cable Internet service is used, the improvement in throughput can be significant. This improvement in throughput is possible through the use of coax or fiber optic cable. However, the price is also significantly higher than Internet access available through an Internet service provider, such as AOL(trademark), using the local public switched telephone network (PSTN). Further, whether using a trading service or a broadband cable Internet service, the user is often limited to a single site where they can access the desired information.
Recently cellular phone manufacturers have been making available Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) capable cellular phones for Internet access wherever digital cellular phone access is available. Using such a WAP-capable phone, a user no longer is tied to a fixed location in order to access the Internet. In addition, a few WAP capable cellular telephones are available with significant processor, display and memory capability that rival that seen in a personal digital assistant (PDA). However, unlike other forms of Internet access, three fundamental problems exist for a person who desires to access the Internet using a cellular telephone. First, a cellular telephone still has a relatively slow transmission rate. Second, even though the cost per minute access charges have significantly fallen, cellular phone rates are still generally higher than other method of interfacing to the Internet. Third, cellular phones still have significantly less memory than personal computers and thus can hold less data retrieved from web sites. Combining the relatively slow transmission rate with the high cost of access for a cellular phone makes searching and accessing information on the Internet relatively costly. In addition, very often individuals using the Internet will want to repeatedly access a web site in order to determine if any changes in information have taken place. For example, an individual may wish to know if there is a breaking news event, or a change in a sporting event score. Presently, such an individual would have to repeatedly access the web page of the site he is interested in. All too often that individual would discover that there is no update or change in events.
Therefore, what is needed are a system and method that can more effectively utilize the enhanced processor power and memory available to higher end cellular telephones while minimizing access time spent searching the Internet utilizing a cellular phone. This system and method should be able to store information from Internet web sites that a user is interested in within the memory of the cellular phone itself. Further, this system and method should provide a mechanism whereby the user is assured that the information contained in memory of his cellular phone is up-to-date.
An embodiment of the present invention provides for a method and computer program for accessing, downloading, storing, and retrieving information from content providers using a cellular terminal. This method and computer program begins by selecting at least one of several topics and items of information available from content providers on the Internet using the cellular terminal. Then searching the Internet for content providers having the topics and items of information. Downloading the topics and items of information to memory in the cellular terminal by the content providers and time stamping each item or topic of information with a best before time stamp. Specifying by a user of the cellular terminal an update period for the topics or items of information. Thereafter, checking periodically the best before time stamp and update period. Then eliminating any of the topics or items of information from the memory of the cellular terminal when the best before stamp has expired.
Further, an embodiment of the present invention which is a system for accessing, downloading, storing, and retrieving information from a plurality of content providers on a cellular terminal. This system has a cellular terminal to communicate to a cellular network and the Internet. The cellular terminal has an information finder to search the Internet for items of information having either an update period or a best before time stamp associated with the topics or items of information. The cellular terminal also has a news finder data file to store the items of information with the associated update period or a best before time stamp in memory of the cellular terminal. The cellular terminal also has a time stamp check module to check the update period or a best before time stamp and delete the item of information from the memory of the cellular terminal when the best before time stamp has expired.
These and other features of this device, method and computer program will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, examples in accordance with the present invention.